Red-light cameras should be an issue in campaign

If Gov. Christie and state Sen. Barbara Buono are looking for a winning issue in their race for the governor's office they have one in red-light cameras, the hanging bandits that nobody but money-grubbing pols and bureaucrats could love.

Now there is more evidence they are ripping off motorists while the politicians and their lackeys look the other way.

Assemblyman Declan O'Scanlon was tired of waiting for the folks who like to call themselves public servants to do the right thing so he hired an expert to prove they're lying through their teeth. The result is, he says, that at least a half-dozen of the state's red-light cameras are shortchanging amber signals by a tenth to a quarter of a second, which is enough to give motorists a ticket they don't deserve.

O'Scanlon, a Monmouth County Republican, hired Barnet Fagel to go into the field and use cameras to prove yellow lights ran less time than the state mandates. Fagel is an Illinois-based traffic-safety advocate with the National Motorists Association, a nonprofit group that opposes red-light cameras.

What he found was enough to conclude at least 30 percent of the tickets from red-light cameras are invalid.

"The credibility of the red-light cameras was on life support," O'Scanlon said. "Now we are going to pull the plug on the last shreds of credibility," he told a news conference.

The assemblyman said about 80 percent of the violations from the red-light cameras come within the first second after the light changes from yellow to red.

The clowns who operate these highway bandits claim they're all about safety. They'd have you believe the millions of dollars they rake in are of no consideration. It's not only motorists who are getting robbed. I've heard from people who say they will go to a mall in another town just to avoid the cameras, so merchants are losing money too.

There is a way to settle it. If it's not about the money, the towns can donate their share of the proceeds (the company that operates them gets a take, as does the state) to charity. That completely wipes out the money motivation. Don't hold your breath. Any pol who passes on these lies should be booted from their cushy "public service" jobs.

Why haven't Buono and Christie made an issue of it?

LIFE AFTER BOOKER?: Newark Mayor Cory Booker is the favorite of the odds makers to defeat Republican Steve Lonegan in the Oct. 16 election to fill the Senate seat left vacant by the death of Frank Lautenberg. What happens to Newark if Booker wins and heads south to D.C.?

"The Economist" magazine did some forward thinking and came up with three would-be successors: Ras Baraka, a city councilman and opponent of Booker, is the son of a poet and activist. He has the backing of notorious former Mayor Sharpe James, who went to prison on corruption charges. Shavar Jeffries, a former assistant attorney general, was brought up by his grandmother when his mother was murdered. If elected, Anibal Ramos, would be the first Latino mayor in Newark. The magazine reports Ramos is the only candidate who has said he will build on what Booker has done.

It isn't known if the trio of would-be mayors is as adept at sending tweets as Booker.

Republican Steve Lonegan wants to see Booker stay in Newark. A former mayor of Bogota who has lost two Republican primaries for governor, Lonegan, a Tea Party favorite, has long said a real conservative who faces issues head-on can win in Democratic New Jersey. This race should prove once and for all whether that's true or not. Meanwhile, a Democratic PAC is putting up YouTube videos tying Lonegan to Christie. Not flattering. No.

NOT THE WORK OF ALIENS: Someone cut the images of Christie and Buono in a maze in Morris County. Looked pretty good from the air. David Turner of the Buono campaign quipped it was the first time Christie had been seen in a cornfield outside Iowa. Ouch!

BACK TO SCHOOL: Jersey City Mayor Steven Fulop says school kids in his town will get free backpacks filled with school supplies this year. It's paid for with money from private donors. Good idea.

DO YOU BELIEVE US NOW?: Egg Harbor Township Mayor Sonny McCullough's house was re-evaluated resulting in a tax hike of about 60 percent to $31,056 a year. His honor says he hopes to find another local place, but if he can't the couple's waterfront condo in Florida costs only $2,569 in property taxes. They don't have income taxes or beach tags there either. Any bets on how this one ends?

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Red-light cameras should be an issue in campaign

If Gov. Christie and state Sen. Barbara Buono are looking for a winning issue in their race for the governor's office they have one in red-light cameras, the hanging bandits that nobody but money-

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